Christmas Eve Celebration

With Baby B arriving any day now our doctor advsied us to stay in town this holiday season. So no Hershey this year, but fortunately we were still able to spend it with family. My dad and Sueli had everyone over their house Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Paula & Christian brought my niece and nephews, plus my mom, Tony & Bridget made the trip down from DC. We were joined by some of their friends and everyone has a really great time. We had an amazing dinner, opened Secret Santa gifts white elephant style, and I read The Night Before Christmas (a family tradition since I was a baby, in fact I still have the original pop-up book in one of the unpacked boxes in our garage).

Popping Christmas crackers!!!

My dad had his Secret Santa gift switched 4 times and ended up with this purple purse.

Leonardo explaining the meaning of the Christmas bells.

Sarah in her crown.

Sueli's gourmet feast.

Christmas Brunch at the Jefferson

I thought the best way to celebrate Sarah's birthday would be a trip to the historic Jefferson Hotel for their Christmas brunch. Of course I had to decide this back in June since it books up so fast... good thing Baby B decided not to come 2 weeks early. We had a wonderful time eating and catching up with our good friends Kim and Lynn. We were having such a good time we didn't realize how long we had been there. The hotel staff stopped by and said they needed the table for the next seating. Perplexed, I checked my watch and we had been there almost 2 and a half hours. Time sure does fly when you are having fun. I hope one year both of our families will all come down to Richmond for brunch at the Jefferson and to share in our holiday tradition of attending Richmond Ballet's production of The Nutcracker.

The alligator that greats you near the entrance. They used to have live alligators in the lobby fountain back in the day.

The beautiful tree

Sarah, me and Baby B

Toy Soldiers line the staircase

Now that's what I call a gingerbread house. Here are some statistics:

350 pounds of gingerbread, 400 pounds of royal icing, 100 pounds of rolled fondant, 10 pounds of gummy cherries, 250 butterfly gummies, 600 fruit gumdrop slices, 1,500 gum drops, 10 pounds of sour patch kids, 350 starlight mints, 75 necco wafers, 10 pounds of swedish fish, 216 feet of nerds rope candy, 12 giant lollipops and 150 sweet tarts

Happy Birthday Mom!!!

Snow Day

Richmond has been hit by snow twice already this winter, with more expected on Christmas day!!! Sarah and I decided to take the dogs for a walk and show them the new house, needless to say they were quite excited about all of the room to run around.

Checking things out

Let us in!!!!

Baby Shower

The people I work with were kind enough to throw me a surprise baby shower the other day. They truly are the greatest people in the world to work with. I don't consider them co-workers, they are definitely friends. The cake looked amazing and I got a sweet medal which says "Dad to-be" that I still wear around the office everyday. Baby B picked up tons of loot. Thanks everyone!!!

All of Baby B's loot, lots of books for us to read together

Personalized bookmarks to pass out with parts of the "Guess How Much I Love You" story on them, plus a coffee mug

Four-tier diaper cake

The most amazing cake I have ever seen. Take that Ace of Cakes and Cake Boss!!!

White Christmas???

We had our first real snow of the season this morning, pretty early by Richmond standards. Only an inch or so but we'll take it. I wonder if this bodes well for a white Christmas? Thought I'd post a shot of the new house, 10 more days and it's officially ours.

Let the Hershey Baby Bonanza Begin!!!!!!!!!

And first out the gate is little baby Marshall. Sarah and I are so excited to report that our good friends Ben and Jenn just had their second child, Vivian Marion Marshall. Be sure to check out their blog, September and December Babies. I wonder who'll be next, Erica & Greg, Chadd & Sandy, or Baby B?

It's a Boy!!!

Easy folks, I'm not talking about Baby B. Our good friends Todd and Stacy just found out that they are going to be having a baby boy. We are soooo excited for them. Congrats guys!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

Despite the fact that we are living in a tiny apartment and moving in just a couple of weeks I decided to surprise Sarah with a Christmas tree. It's a bit small but it does the trick. We had fun decorating the tree in time for St. Nicholas day, even if it doesn't have colored lights. Anything to make my pregnant wife happy I guess :-)

Happy Birthday Emily!!!

Our wonderful niece Emily turned the big ONE this past Friday. Sadly our doctor wouldn't let us travel up to celebrate the joyous event in Pennsylvania. Here's the birthday girl with her mom and dad. Happy Birthday Miss Em.